I was wondering what some of you guys were planning on doing for the upcoming holidays? Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. I really enjoy eating all of the wonderful dishes that are prepared. There is just no way I'm going to deny myself. I don't see myself as being on a diet. I simply strive to keep up with a calorie deficit and aiming for a 20/40/40 (fat/carb/pro) mix.

While I haven't exactly measured it out before, I suspect a typical Thanksgiving dinner for myself (in the past) has likely been around 1500-1800 calories. I also imagine the fat content to be much much higher than 20%. I've never been much for sweets so I can easily bypass all the cakes, pies and fudge, although the chocolate pie is quite tempting.

It's only a couple of weeks away and I'm already trying to figure out how to deal with it. I'm thinking that I will just go ahead and enjoy myself since it's a once a year deal. I am definitely going to count the calories I consume and still strive to maintain a deficit for the day, though I suspect it will be a small one. I know I'm not going to make it on the 20/40/40 that day but I'm going to sacrifice it for one day. I'm going to just have to go for good long brisk walk after dinner and workout extra hard the following days.

I think your plan is a good one, Mark. Check in with us and let us know how it goes!

I am not big on deprivation and I plan to enjoy the day as well. I will probably try to fill up on the healthier options (turkey, veggies), have smaller portions of the unhealthy ones, and just make sure I get my exercise in. I am also hoping to eat very clean the week after to reinforce the healthy habits again. I wouldn't eat pie every week, but treats every once in a while won't kill me.

I need to make sure that I don't keep going after I start eating goodies...somehow my brain always thinks I'll never get those foods again and I keep going like the Energizer Bunny. Unfortunately on the day after Thanksgiving, we do it all over again with just as many people (about 20 or so) who were elsewhere the day before. So I know I'm already starting with two days worth of Thanksgiving dinner.

In the past I would essentially "save up" and not eat till dinner. That flat out did not work; I always ended up eating more than I would have and continued to eat the rest of the night.

__________________Cassie

And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.
-John Steinbeck

Thanksgiving day I'm taking off. After that, any leftovers I eat will be measured and logged appropriately. Hot turkey sandwiches with leftover gravy and mashed potatoes on homemade bread is the traditional next day meal for us, so that will probably make 2 days over budget for me. There's always a ton of leftovers here, it's usually just the kids and the hubs and sometimes the mother in law on thanksgiving itself. Most of my family works odd hours, so there's usually a second thanksgivng dinner at my mom's house somewhere along the line, but to be honest my mom is a terrible cook so staying on track calorie wise is usually not a problem.

__________________
If I keep starting over, eventually it will stick, right?

Usually T-day is a huge potluck eat-fest with my family, followed by a shopping marathon on Black Friday. Then over the weekend we drive 3 hours in each direction to hit the in-laws for more eat-festing. This year however my parents are driving to spend the holiday with my brother and his family. Long story there, but suffice it to say my brother is moving, which will mean air travel to visit him from now on. And my FIL just had surgery, so I really don't know what my MIL will be up for. We may visit them just like always, but I suspect we won't be having the full bird dinner with all the trimmings.

So my current plan is to pay the "family fee" and participate in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, which is a 5K walk/run to raise money for the local YMCA. And then go home and have Turkey + reasonable trimmings sometime in the afternoon, I'm thinking bird, salad, sweet taters, stuffing, gravy, squash, pecan pie and custard pumpkin pie made with Greek yogurt in an almond crust. My SIL will be alone that day (the men in her house are going hunting up north) so I invited her to join us for the race and the eats and she was pretty happy about that. And then on Friday she and I will head out for the BF shopping marathon, and rake in the deals. Whooo hoooo baby!!!! I love BF, it just gets me in the Christmas mood.

My big family one starts the Friday after and last through the weekend since we live all over and have to travel to get there. I normally do the Gilmore house hopping locally on Thursday but kinda stick to tapas eating so I don't feel gross before the big weekend.

We have it catered from a "healthy" place up north. The regular stuff I won't touch and most of the vegetarian choices have stuff I am allergic to or don't like which actually makes me happy so I won't pig out! They make an amazing salad and the only dessert choice that tempts me is the cheesecake! lol!

Last year there were 26 of us that stayed for the whole weekend. The alcohol was the only thing I probably had too much of but now I know the cal/carb/sugar for the ones I liked. I was actually shocked that my old favorite drink had over 50 carbs per serving! My new favorite only has 5 carbs!

I never think Thanksgiving dinner is too bad for you.. Turkey for one, is very low in fat and high in protein, always a plus! And I love sweet potatoes, plain, so that's a good thing as well. I just have to bring them to my Mom's house as she doesn't cook sweet potatoes.

I will probably go to the gym first thing in the morning on Thanksgiving and at least get a workout it. Then as said before the guilt won't really be there.

Hey Almeeker. We have a Turkey trot here too. Unfortuately I can't do it because I have to travel to the parents' house in the early afternoon.

I have to work the Friday after Thanksgiving which sucks because I love BF shopping! I guess I could still go in the early morning since I don't have to be to work until 8am... We'll see.

Hey Almeeker. We have a Turkey trot here too. Unfortuately I can't do it because I have to travel to the parents' house in the early afternoon.

I have to work the Friday after Thanksgiving which sucks because I love BF shopping! I guess I could still go in the early morning since I don't have to be to work until 8am... We'll see.

Our Turkey Trot lines up at 7:30am, and starts at 8:00am, so even if we end up driving to the inlaws house, we've still got plenty of time to do both. We're going to walk and trot since the kids are going along with us, so it should take about an hour.

Hey, the first sales start at 3:00am, that's plenty of time to do some shopping before work. We're usually almost done by 10:00-11:00 and then we go out for coffee and brunch. That actually might be harder on the diet than T-day.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Day! I had a good day and enjoyed myself. I had intended to to try and end the day with a deficit but I failed. I estimate my surplus to be in the area of 500 calories. It was the chocolate pie that got me. Oh well, back on the horse tomorrow!

Going shopping tonight at midnight. Maybe I can burn a few calories in the store.